TWO WEEKS, TWO WEEKENDS
First, the weeks: September 11 - 24
So classes started this week. It was understandably the most difficult week so far. This week I had to face my fears and admit my limitations. I attended a lecture of a real German course for real German students, immediately followed by the accompanying tutorium (a smaller class led by a graduate student, or whatever the equivalent of that is here), and I quickly realized I would not be able to take this kind of course. I read pretty well, but my understanding of spoken German is just not good enough.
Fortunately, at German universities --- this one, anyway --- you don't have to nail your schedule down in advance, so I was able to make a change. I was able to sign up at the last minute for an alternate course, a course designed to prepare foreign students for the study of German literature. The lecture course was an introduction to the study of German literature, so the content of the courses is very similar, only the one I'm ending up taking is just for foreign students. Like me.
Instead of "the study of German literature" I should perhaps say "the German study of literature", because the Germans have their own way of doing things, including studying literature. Their approach is very precise, very analytical, very scientific. In fact, the subject of study is called "Literaturwissenschaft", literally "literary science". Leave it to the Germans to take a scientific approach to something that is fundamentally not scientific.
Two of my other courses are also designed for exchange students; one is a language course in spoken German, which I really need, the other an overview of German culture. The fourth course is the translation course, which (because it is German to English translation) is taught, mercifully, in English. For that reason it will probably be the easiest course I take, but that after all is why I'm here.
This may all sound too easy to some, but everyone has different reasons for wanting to do something like this. Sorry, professors, but frankly academics are not my top priority here. If I wanted to spend all my time reading books, I could have stayed home. You don't get to really know a country by reading books.
And that brings me to:
The Weekends: September 16 and 23
It was a rough week. Not taking the German lit course was a blow to the ego. Time to relax and refresh.
The VISUM group planned an excursion to the Wine Festival in Bad-Duerkheim for this Saturday. But they were not planning to leave until 6:00 in the evening. What about the rest of the day. I realized that Neidenfels is out past Bad-Duerkheim. Why not check it out?
(Review of last post: Neidenfels is the little town where one finds the hiking trail that goes to Drachenfels...)(My ankle may not have been ready for the hike, but I thought I'd just see how long it takes to get there.)
It was easier than I thought. The train to Kaiserslautern goes right through Neidenfels. I was there in an hour from the house.
This is the real German country, up in the little mountains to the west. These mountains are smaller than the ones in North Carolina, but quite rugged. A hiking club called the Pfaelzerwald Verein runs a small establishment for hikers --- food and lodging --- right by the trailhead. Besides my ankle, it was too late in the day for the trail, but there are the ruins of a small castle, 700 years old, on a hill above the town. I made the climb. The view was worth it.
The air here was better, too, fresher, lighter, cooler. The sky was overcast with thick clouds, but that only added to the mystique. (And it never rained a drop.)
I went back through Bad-Duerkheim for the Wine Festival. It is said to be the biggest wine festival in the world, and big it was. And there was wine, and beer, of course, and food, but mostly it was booths selling stuff and rides, including a giant ferris wheel and even --- my old favorite --- bumper cars. I.e. it was just like the county or state fairs we have back home. With sausage instead of cotton candy.
And amid the sharp-shooter booths and the booths selling jewelry and crafts there were booths, at least two of them selling --- of all things --- socks. Can you imagine someone in America saying, "Hey, let's go to the fair and ride the roller coaster and eat hot dogs and cotton candy, and while we're there we can buy some socks!" (I swear I am not making this up.)
And the wine came in half-liter glasses (about a pint), and the beer in liters. So, although I am too old to get turned upside down on a carnival ride, I enjoyed.
Skipping ahead to the next Saturday, the 23rd:
After several cloudy days, the weather on Thursday turned spectacular, cooler, especially at night, but not a cloud in the sky. Fall weather on the eve of Fall. And I swore if the weather held till Saturday I would go back to the country and do my hike, sore ankle or not.
The weather held.
This time I knew exactly where to go --- at least to start with --- but even allowing for a few wrong turns it was farther than I thought. I still haven't got my mind wrapped around kilometers. It was a long day.
But two hours after I left the house I was in the woods. Not deep, not dark --- they are actually quite similar to what you find in the east in America. The forests in America have been logged extensively, and so have these, and for centuries longer. And they still are. Much of the trail was logging roads and here and there were piles of newly cut logs stacked by the road ready to be trucked away. Lots of evergreens, but no really big ones. This is not old-growth forest. Are there any old-growth forests left in Europe?
But on a sunny day in September --- it happened to be the actual first day of autumn --- who cares? I walked with Wagner playing in my head and saw not a soul on the trail --- until I got to a big intersection of trails near the Drachenfels, where there were picnickers and bicyclers, and the population continued to grow as I approached the great rock. It turns out there is a public road and parking area nearby, so it is easily accessible to those with cars, who don't have to take the train and then walk 3 hours like I did. But, y'know, in America there would be no train, and those without cars would never be able to get there at all. So for me it is a good thing this is not America. But next time I will come on a weekday, because it was really quite crowded. Of course, for me in a place like this, out in the woods, 10 people is crowded, so... But it makes it harder to commune with nature.
Drachenfels is a huge dramatic rock formation sitting atop a large hill --- a mountain perhaps, by our standards. There are two small caves beneath it, one of which goes all the way through to the other side, and the other someone once imagined a dragon might live in. Personally, I thought it was way too small for that. And I found no trace of the Nibelung treasure...
But it was a beautiful day. My ankle survived; both of my feet hurt by the time I got back to town, but now 2 days later I am back to normal. I will stick to cities in my travels the next few weeks. I am glad I got this done before the weather turns.
Business will keep me in Mannheim some of this Fall. I finally heard from the TIG7 theater group, and the poetry reading is on. There is also an English-speaking theater group here at the university that has started meeting: more of that as things pan out.
And so the semester has begun. Hard to believe in three months it will be over. Then I go home for Christmas. Will I be ready for that? We'll see.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Saturday, September 09, 2006
AUGUST INTO SEPTEMBER
If anyone out there finds this insufferably boring, take heart. I am almost caught up, and I am going to pick up the pace now.
But first, I must mention the river cruise up the Neckar from Heidelberg on Sunday 27 August. This was the last excursion organized by the Summer Academy. My slight illness of preceding weeks has improved, and the weather is grand, clear and not too hot. Even the rain holds off until the last 20 minutes or so. Upstream from Heidelberg the river winds between low mountains that rise on either side. Little towns, some with castles, nestle in the hollows of the hills. This is what I imagined the Rhein would look like (and it probably does, farther upstream from Mannheim). Dense forest covers the mountainsides. Probably not old-growth, but from the river you can't tell. Some of the other students were bored. But I can never get enough of such beauty. This was perhaps the most enjoyable day I've had since I got here.
The next three days were the last days of the Summer Academy. Grade certificates were passed out on Tuesday: I got a 2 for the course. Not bad, all things considered. (I might have gotten a 1 if I hadn't screwed up on the exam, my usual stupid little mistakes.)
Wednesday was the last day; Professor Tom promised to take us all out to breakfast, and I'm sure he did, but I had to miss it. Tuesday night, leaving the Internet Cafe after dark and in a drenching all-day rain, I was tripped up by the uneven pavement near the Bahnhof and fell and sprained my ankle. (It happens every few years.) Quite painful at first. So Wednesday morning I hobbled to a nearby Apotheke (where they sell real drugs, which they don't in the drugstores; an Apotheke is like a little medical center) to see if perhaps they might have a cane or crutch they could sell me. They didn't, but there was a nearby store that did, so with a cheap pair of crutches I was able to get around OK. I still had to go into town to the Uni to register for a class.
But the next few days I tried to take it easy and not walk so much. The ankle improved quickly; already on Thursday I was down to one crutch (two was too much trouble), and by the following Monday I stopped using even one. Better off without it. By that time, it hurt less to walk on it than just sitting around.
I used the extra time to get caught up on this blog.
As September began, the students that were here only for the Summer Academy departed, and the exchange students who did not take part in the Summer Academy began to arrive. Also, the regular full-time German students are beginning to return to town. The apartment house is filling up, and there are more people on the streets. There was an orientation for foreign students on August 31, but having been here a month already, I learned nothing new.
Also, the weather turned really hot again last week, and it stopped raining so much. Both of which I welcomed. But on Thursday of this week (September 7) there was a big rain that cooled things off and now it is very dry and cool: fall weather at last. This is the kind of weather I have always associated with Germany, I don't know why. I hope it doesn't get too cool too soon.
With the sore ankle and the Summer Academy being over with, there is not that much going on. No more excursions and fewer parties, although the VISUM group had a big welcome party this week at a local club. I went with the lovely Angela my VISUM buddy. And my acquaintances from the Summer Academy, the ones that are staying, were there. But with the crowded dance floor and the insufferably loud music, it just wasn't my kind of scene, so I didn't stay late. (This is not because of my age; I didn't get into that kind of thing when I was young either.)
For future reference: A couple of weeks ago I noticed on a map of the area a large empty green space to the west of here --- a state or national park or forest called the Pfaelzerwald. In this area I noticed a spot, designated on the map as a scenic area, called Drachenfels: Dragon Rock. I immediately decided to go there --- how could I not go to a place called Drachenfels? Train lines were marked on the map, as well as hiking trails, so I was able to determine that it is possible to go by train to a little town and then get on the hiking trail that goes to Drachenfels. So I started planning a little hiking trip.
Shortly after that I noticed in a bookstore (and purchased) a hiking guidebook to the Pfaelzerwald, which provided more details. The hike looks to be about three hours, round trip, doable in a day (depending on the train schedules). And, yes, legend has it that this was indeed the spot where Siegfried killed the dragon. (One of many places, I'm sure, that make the same claim.)
The misfortune with the ankle forced me to put the hiking trip on hold, but if the weather stays good and the ankle continues to improve, I am going to do it one of these weekends soon. I wonder if I can get anyone to go with me.
But classes for the Fall Semester start Monday, September 11 (auspicious date, isn't it?), and the next week will be occupied with school business if not actual school work. The Summer Academy was like a vacation --- as it was intended --- but now things will get serious. There will still be fun, I'm sure, and real challenges as well. My postings will have to get shorter, but you will still be able to read about my most interesting and important adventures. So stay tuned, and wish me luck.
If anyone out there finds this insufferably boring, take heart. I am almost caught up, and I am going to pick up the pace now.
But first, I must mention the river cruise up the Neckar from Heidelberg on Sunday 27 August. This was the last excursion organized by the Summer Academy. My slight illness of preceding weeks has improved, and the weather is grand, clear and not too hot. Even the rain holds off until the last 20 minutes or so. Upstream from Heidelberg the river winds between low mountains that rise on either side. Little towns, some with castles, nestle in the hollows of the hills. This is what I imagined the Rhein would look like (and it probably does, farther upstream from Mannheim). Dense forest covers the mountainsides. Probably not old-growth, but from the river you can't tell. Some of the other students were bored. But I can never get enough of such beauty. This was perhaps the most enjoyable day I've had since I got here.
The next three days were the last days of the Summer Academy. Grade certificates were passed out on Tuesday: I got a 2 for the course. Not bad, all things considered. (I might have gotten a 1 if I hadn't screwed up on the exam, my usual stupid little mistakes.)
Wednesday was the last day; Professor Tom promised to take us all out to breakfast, and I'm sure he did, but I had to miss it. Tuesday night, leaving the Internet Cafe after dark and in a drenching all-day rain, I was tripped up by the uneven pavement near the Bahnhof and fell and sprained my ankle. (It happens every few years.) Quite painful at first. So Wednesday morning I hobbled to a nearby Apotheke (where they sell real drugs, which they don't in the drugstores; an Apotheke is like a little medical center) to see if perhaps they might have a cane or crutch they could sell me. They didn't, but there was a nearby store that did, so with a cheap pair of crutches I was able to get around OK. I still had to go into town to the Uni to register for a class.
But the next few days I tried to take it easy and not walk so much. The ankle improved quickly; already on Thursday I was down to one crutch (two was too much trouble), and by the following Monday I stopped using even one. Better off without it. By that time, it hurt less to walk on it than just sitting around.
I used the extra time to get caught up on this blog.
As September began, the students that were here only for the Summer Academy departed, and the exchange students who did not take part in the Summer Academy began to arrive. Also, the regular full-time German students are beginning to return to town. The apartment house is filling up, and there are more people on the streets. There was an orientation for foreign students on August 31, but having been here a month already, I learned nothing new.
Also, the weather turned really hot again last week, and it stopped raining so much. Both of which I welcomed. But on Thursday of this week (September 7) there was a big rain that cooled things off and now it is very dry and cool: fall weather at last. This is the kind of weather I have always associated with Germany, I don't know why. I hope it doesn't get too cool too soon.
With the sore ankle and the Summer Academy being over with, there is not that much going on. No more excursions and fewer parties, although the VISUM group had a big welcome party this week at a local club. I went with the lovely Angela my VISUM buddy. And my acquaintances from the Summer Academy, the ones that are staying, were there. But with the crowded dance floor and the insufferably loud music, it just wasn't my kind of scene, so I didn't stay late. (This is not because of my age; I didn't get into that kind of thing when I was young either.)
For future reference: A couple of weeks ago I noticed on a map of the area a large empty green space to the west of here --- a state or national park or forest called the Pfaelzerwald. In this area I noticed a spot, designated on the map as a scenic area, called Drachenfels: Dragon Rock. I immediately decided to go there --- how could I not go to a place called Drachenfels? Train lines were marked on the map, as well as hiking trails, so I was able to determine that it is possible to go by train to a little town and then get on the hiking trail that goes to Drachenfels. So I started planning a little hiking trip.
Shortly after that I noticed in a bookstore (and purchased) a hiking guidebook to the Pfaelzerwald, which provided more details. The hike looks to be about three hours, round trip, doable in a day (depending on the train schedules). And, yes, legend has it that this was indeed the spot where Siegfried killed the dragon. (One of many places, I'm sure, that make the same claim.)
The misfortune with the ankle forced me to put the hiking trip on hold, but if the weather stays good and the ankle continues to improve, I am going to do it one of these weekends soon. I wonder if I can get anyone to go with me.
But classes for the Fall Semester start Monday, September 11 (auspicious date, isn't it?), and the next week will be occupied with school business if not actual school work. The Summer Academy was like a vacation --- as it was intended --- but now things will get serious. There will still be fun, I'm sure, and real challenges as well. My postings will have to get shorter, but you will still be able to read about my most interesting and important adventures. So stay tuned, and wish me luck.
WEEK #4 --- 21-26 AUGUST
The paper is done, but the oral presentation is not until Friday, so I spent a lot of this week working on that. It all has to be completely reworked; I can't just read the paper. It only has to be five minutes (although no one's presentation so far has been that short). In the paper I compared (very briefly; in three pages) Wagner's Nibelung operas to the show in Worms, but to keep the length down, and because I think people in the class will find it more interesting, I have decided not to discuss Wagner and talk only about the Worms play.
There was an excursion to the town of Speyer this week, a town which dates back to Roman times, 2,000 years ago, although from what I saw it doesn't look any older than Heidelberg. One highlight was the cathedral, also from the Middle Ages, but seeming to be much newer --- cleaner somehow, brighter --- than the one in Worms.
Also this week I finally had time to go to the government office that keeps track of people and register my presence here. Every new resident in any locality must register their name and address with the government, even German citizens moving from one town to another. A bit frightening, considering this country's history (and from the point of view of an American with our habitual distrust of government). But nowadays I'm sure it's just a formality. I also registered my presence here with the US State Department, but of course that was voluntary.
I also had to get a foreigner's resident permit, in lieu of a visa, which is not required for exchange students. I had all my papers in order, so it went fairly smoothly, although the lady I dealt with was the model of German efficiency. Everything had to be just so. Every i dotted and every t crossed. My favorite quote from the Worms Nibelung drama: Siegfried is trying to compose a love poem to Kriemhild, and one of the Burgundians is trying to give him advice, which Siegfried does not take. He says, "Es gibt verschiedene Moeglichkeiten. Du bist Deutscher. Die Deutschen haben keine verschiedenen Moeglichkeiten." (For the Germans, there are no alternative possibilities.)
The oral presentation on Friday went reasonably well, although I was extremely nervous, even more than I thought I'd be. It did not help that it was delayed until the very end of class. I cannot say how well my classmates appreciated it (there may not have been much interest in old myths), but the teacher seemed to enjoy it. I think everyone was surprised that my German was as good as it was, since, being an introvert, I never talked very much in class.
I never discovered what grade I got on the presentation, since I did it so close to the end of the session. But I got a good grade on the paper, a 1 for content and a 1,3 for language. (The German grading system has 6, not 5, levels, with a 1 being the best and a 6 being the worst, i.e. fail. So the lower the number the better: a 1,3 is better than a 1,7.)
(And with numbers they use commas where we use periods and vice versa. 6.789,28 means six thousand seven hundred eighty-nine and 28 one-hundredths. Wierd, huh?)
The presentation on Friday was the end of actual work for the class (there was a short exam on Wednesday). I celebrate by going shopping. Since there was no room for such a garment in my suitcase, I have been trying to find a nice, stylish sports coat to buy. But I cannot find anything that fits. As I said before, everything is smaller here, even the people. I have a chart to convert American sizes to German, and I should wear a German size 56, but I can find very few jackets that big, and even the ones I find are tight on me. I will have to wear a 58. I find one --- only one --- at a nice store downtown for 130 euros. Seven stores, one jacket, 130 euros. (I did not buy it).
But on Saturday I go to the mall --- yes, there is an American-style indoor shopping mall out in a suburb north of town, near where the American army base is. The last store I go in there has jackets that fit, size 58, for 49 euros. I buy two.
Also in the mall there is --- praise God! --- a Kentucky Fried Chicken. At last, an alternative to sausage.
The paper is done, but the oral presentation is not until Friday, so I spent a lot of this week working on that. It all has to be completely reworked; I can't just read the paper. It only has to be five minutes (although no one's presentation so far has been that short). In the paper I compared (very briefly; in three pages) Wagner's Nibelung operas to the show in Worms, but to keep the length down, and because I think people in the class will find it more interesting, I have decided not to discuss Wagner and talk only about the Worms play.
There was an excursion to the town of Speyer this week, a town which dates back to Roman times, 2,000 years ago, although from what I saw it doesn't look any older than Heidelberg. One highlight was the cathedral, also from the Middle Ages, but seeming to be much newer --- cleaner somehow, brighter --- than the one in Worms.
Also this week I finally had time to go to the government office that keeps track of people and register my presence here. Every new resident in any locality must register their name and address with the government, even German citizens moving from one town to another. A bit frightening, considering this country's history (and from the point of view of an American with our habitual distrust of government). But nowadays I'm sure it's just a formality. I also registered my presence here with the US State Department, but of course that was voluntary.
I also had to get a foreigner's resident permit, in lieu of a visa, which is not required for exchange students. I had all my papers in order, so it went fairly smoothly, although the lady I dealt with was the model of German efficiency. Everything had to be just so. Every i dotted and every t crossed. My favorite quote from the Worms Nibelung drama: Siegfried is trying to compose a love poem to Kriemhild, and one of the Burgundians is trying to give him advice, which Siegfried does not take. He says, "Es gibt verschiedene Moeglichkeiten. Du bist Deutscher. Die Deutschen haben keine verschiedenen Moeglichkeiten." (For the Germans, there are no alternative possibilities.)
The oral presentation on Friday went reasonably well, although I was extremely nervous, even more than I thought I'd be. It did not help that it was delayed until the very end of class. I cannot say how well my classmates appreciated it (there may not have been much interest in old myths), but the teacher seemed to enjoy it. I think everyone was surprised that my German was as good as it was, since, being an introvert, I never talked very much in class.
I never discovered what grade I got on the presentation, since I did it so close to the end of the session. But I got a good grade on the paper, a 1 for content and a 1,3 for language. (The German grading system has 6, not 5, levels, with a 1 being the best and a 6 being the worst, i.e. fail. So the lower the number the better: a 1,3 is better than a 1,7.)
(And with numbers they use commas where we use periods and vice versa. 6.789,28 means six thousand seven hundred eighty-nine and 28 one-hundredths. Wierd, huh?)
The presentation on Friday was the end of actual work for the class (there was a short exam on Wednesday). I celebrate by going shopping. Since there was no room for such a garment in my suitcase, I have been trying to find a nice, stylish sports coat to buy. But I cannot find anything that fits. As I said before, everything is smaller here, even the people. I have a chart to convert American sizes to German, and I should wear a German size 56, but I can find very few jackets that big, and even the ones I find are tight on me. I will have to wear a 58. I find one --- only one --- at a nice store downtown for 130 euros. Seven stores, one jacket, 130 euros. (I did not buy it).
But on Saturday I go to the mall --- yes, there is an American-style indoor shopping mall out in a suburb north of town, near where the American army base is. The last store I go in there has jackets that fit, size 58, for 49 euros. I buy two.
Also in the mall there is --- praise God! --- a Kentucky Fried Chicken. At last, an alternative to sausage.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
SATURDAY 19 AUGUST: WORMS, CITY OF THE DRAGON
The Nibelung myth will be the subject of my paper and presentation for class. Why? Not only because it has been an interest of mine for many years, but also because the city of Worms, just down the Rhein from here, has its yearly Nibelung festival, the focus of which is a giant theatrical presentation, in the month of August. And since Bayreuth (the Wagner festival) is too far, and sells out too soon, I decided to attend the show in Worms.
Worms is where the ancient Nibelung myth became grafted on to history. There was a tribe here called Burgundians in the 5th century; in 437 C.E. they were nearly wiped out by the Huns under Attila. True historical fact. (The survivors fled farther west and settled in what is now France, i.e. Burgundy.) Somehow this incident became part of the Nibelung myth, known in Scandinavia as the Volsung Saga. The defeat of the Burgundians was turned into an act of vengeance for the murder of the hero Siegfried, the Dragon-Slayer. "Worm" or "Wurm" is an old German word for dragon; the city must have been named because of this association with the hero. It was the Burgundians of Worms that murdered Siegfried, according to the legend, so perhaps poetically this was considered the dragon's revenge. (I wonder what the settlement was called in the 5th century. The name Worms must have come much later.)
The primary source for the German version of the saga is the "Nibelungenlied", written early in the 13th century, but based on older sources. The unknown poet of this work chose to set the action, or most of it, in the city of Worms as it existed in his day, with the huge Romanesque cathedral, built 200 years earlier, being specifically mentioned. This cathedral still stands today; it is a major focus of the city, and the Nibelung Festival play is performed outdoors on its south side, with the cathedral itself looming imposingly in the background.
Because the play is done outdoors, it does not start until 9:00 (special lighting effects require darkness to be seen). And it lasts nearly four hours. The last train back to Mannheim leaves at 10:30, so I will have to stay the night. Fortunately, there is a Youth Hostel right across the street from the cathedral.
The cathedral is ground zero, for the city, for the play, and for my visit. I go there first to look for some kind of box office; I have to pick up my ticket, which they promised to mail to me but never did, presumably because I paid for it less than a week before the show (wish they had let me know). The actual box office is closed in the morning, but after asking around I find the office where tickets are kept prior to the box office opening. That done, I am just in time for the back-stage tour of the theater area. Bleachers with 2,000 - 3,000 seats are set up facing the broad south lawn of the cathedral, where the stage has been erected. Without the constraints of walls, it is perhaps the biggest stage area I have ever seen. All of it temporary: the show runs for three weeks; in another week and a half it will all be taken down.
After the theater tour I explore the cathedral itself. Consecrated in the year 1018, it had been begun some decades prior. It has perhaps not been cleaned often enough, because it has a darkness to it, a sooty quality, inside and out, that gives it a certain grim appearance in spite of the architectural beauty. It is a fitting location for the tragedy of Siegfried and the Burgundians. It hits me as I walk around inside that this is the oldest building I have ever been in. A thousand years. Nothing in North America is that old; nothing in Berlin is that old.
[Some days later I remember that this cathedral is in fact not the oldest building I have been in; the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan are older still. But of course they are no longer in use.]
There is a wedding in progress as I walk through the cathedral; the size of the place is such that the entire wedding party, including guests, fits comfortably in the area around the main altar, leaving the rest of the building free for tourists.
Later in the afternoon there is a city tour that focuses on the remnants of the Nibelung legend, so there is more about the cathedral: the famous scene where Kriemhild and Bruennhilde have their big fight actually is supposed to have taken place at the north door of the cathedral, not on the south side where the play is being done. Legend has it also that Siegfried is buried in the vicinity (although other places make the same claim), and in a little plaza outside a remnant of the old city wall there is indeed a burial mound. But it was erected only a few years ago, just to give tourists something to look at. Worms has decided to make the Nibelung saga a focus of its tourist trade, which is why they commisioned the play to be written.
They must have a big budget, because the show is fully professional. The author Moritz Rinke is apparently well known here, and the artistic director, Dieter Wedel, has made movies and TV shows. The actors are some of the best in Germany, and it shows. It is in fact one of the finest theatrical presentations I have ever seen, combining high tech (e.g. the use of film) with solid theatrical techniques.
But it is the script that is most interesting; this is not a musty old legend with medieval robes and rhyming couplets. The heart of the story remains, but the author has asked what it has to say to us today. Many, though not all, the costumes are modern, and the script makes references to the state of the German nation, both today and in its recent past. This is a play about the German people; Siegfried and Bruennhilde are foreigners who come to Germany to meet their doom. Strangers in a strange land. (I wish I had understood more of the dialogue; I would love to have a copy if they ever publish it.)
Note for future reference: This year the play has been expanded and cut in half. This summer only the first half was performed: this part ends with Siegfried's death. Next summer the second half will be performed: The Fall of the Burgundians. Perhaps I will have to extend my stay here into next August.
A violent, soaking thunderstorm came through about 6:30, while I was having a light dinner. They cancel the show in heavy rain, but I wasn't worried because the weather here can turn on a dime. Sure enough, it is clear by 9:00, and the rain has cooled things off. It is a good thing I brought a sweater.
And one of the sweetest things about this evening: the outdoor equivalent of the lobby/concession area is in a small park between the cathedral and a nearby museum, and it stays open, with food and drinks available, for an hour after the end of the show. There is also live music, but it is suitably mellow and actually quite nice. The place is lit by torches, the leaves on the trees are still glistening with the wetness of the earlier rain, but stars are shining beyond them above the ominous bulk of the cathedral. I sip Rhein wine in the cool of the night, a magical summer night in a land where once were dragons.
SUNDAY --- Only today, after a peaceful night in the hostel --- I had no roommate! --- do I have time to visit the Nibelung Museum. It's a good thing they are open today when the rest of the town, it seems, has shut down. Actually, even yesterday, except for the market plazas and the pedestrian zone near the cathedral, much of the city seemed deserted, in spite of the festival. It's August: vacations?
The emphasis in the museum is on the "Nibelungenlied" itself and its various adaptations over the centuries. References to Wagner, Fritz Lang, and how the Nazis twisted the story to their own ends. Mostly audio-visual presentations. The museum is contained within a section of the old city wall, also a thousand years old, I think, and contains towers that overlook the plaza where Siegfried's (fake) burial mound is.
Then I walk over to the Rhein itself, much wider here than in Mannheim. I don't even take the time to walk all the way across. (The bridge itself, in spite of the old gate at one end, is quite modern. And the gate, in spite of its appearance, turns out to be only about 100 years old.) And up the riverbank from the bridge is the statue of Hagen throwing the Nibelung treasure into the Rhein. (The Hagen of the Nibelungenlied is quite different from the one in Wagner, not so much of a villain, although he is still the killer of Siegfried.) This Hagen gets rid of the treasure voluntarily, to ward off the evil it might cause. But to no avail. Getting rid of the treasure doesn't save him or his brothers.
A final walk past the cathedral, looming darkly on its hill above the city, and on to the Bahnhof and back to Mannheim, where I immediately sit down and finish my paper for class, putting in insights from the play. I turn it in the next day.
The Nibelung myth will be the subject of my paper and presentation for class. Why? Not only because it has been an interest of mine for many years, but also because the city of Worms, just down the Rhein from here, has its yearly Nibelung festival, the focus of which is a giant theatrical presentation, in the month of August. And since Bayreuth (the Wagner festival) is too far, and sells out too soon, I decided to attend the show in Worms.
Worms is where the ancient Nibelung myth became grafted on to history. There was a tribe here called Burgundians in the 5th century; in 437 C.E. they were nearly wiped out by the Huns under Attila. True historical fact. (The survivors fled farther west and settled in what is now France, i.e. Burgundy.) Somehow this incident became part of the Nibelung myth, known in Scandinavia as the Volsung Saga. The defeat of the Burgundians was turned into an act of vengeance for the murder of the hero Siegfried, the Dragon-Slayer. "Worm" or "Wurm" is an old German word for dragon; the city must have been named because of this association with the hero. It was the Burgundians of Worms that murdered Siegfried, according to the legend, so perhaps poetically this was considered the dragon's revenge. (I wonder what the settlement was called in the 5th century. The name Worms must have come much later.)
The primary source for the German version of the saga is the "Nibelungenlied", written early in the 13th century, but based on older sources. The unknown poet of this work chose to set the action, or most of it, in the city of Worms as it existed in his day, with the huge Romanesque cathedral, built 200 years earlier, being specifically mentioned. This cathedral still stands today; it is a major focus of the city, and the Nibelung Festival play is performed outdoors on its south side, with the cathedral itself looming imposingly in the background.
Because the play is done outdoors, it does not start until 9:00 (special lighting effects require darkness to be seen). And it lasts nearly four hours. The last train back to Mannheim leaves at 10:30, so I will have to stay the night. Fortunately, there is a Youth Hostel right across the street from the cathedral.
The cathedral is ground zero, for the city, for the play, and for my visit. I go there first to look for some kind of box office; I have to pick up my ticket, which they promised to mail to me but never did, presumably because I paid for it less than a week before the show (wish they had let me know). The actual box office is closed in the morning, but after asking around I find the office where tickets are kept prior to the box office opening. That done, I am just in time for the back-stage tour of the theater area. Bleachers with 2,000 - 3,000 seats are set up facing the broad south lawn of the cathedral, where the stage has been erected. Without the constraints of walls, it is perhaps the biggest stage area I have ever seen. All of it temporary: the show runs for three weeks; in another week and a half it will all be taken down.
After the theater tour I explore the cathedral itself. Consecrated in the year 1018, it had been begun some decades prior. It has perhaps not been cleaned often enough, because it has a darkness to it, a sooty quality, inside and out, that gives it a certain grim appearance in spite of the architectural beauty. It is a fitting location for the tragedy of Siegfried and the Burgundians. It hits me as I walk around inside that this is the oldest building I have ever been in. A thousand years. Nothing in North America is that old; nothing in Berlin is that old.
[Some days later I remember that this cathedral is in fact not the oldest building I have been in; the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan are older still. But of course they are no longer in use.]
There is a wedding in progress as I walk through the cathedral; the size of the place is such that the entire wedding party, including guests, fits comfortably in the area around the main altar, leaving the rest of the building free for tourists.
Later in the afternoon there is a city tour that focuses on the remnants of the Nibelung legend, so there is more about the cathedral: the famous scene where Kriemhild and Bruennhilde have their big fight actually is supposed to have taken place at the north door of the cathedral, not on the south side where the play is being done. Legend has it also that Siegfried is buried in the vicinity (although other places make the same claim), and in a little plaza outside a remnant of the old city wall there is indeed a burial mound. But it was erected only a few years ago, just to give tourists something to look at. Worms has decided to make the Nibelung saga a focus of its tourist trade, which is why they commisioned the play to be written.
They must have a big budget, because the show is fully professional. The author Moritz Rinke is apparently well known here, and the artistic director, Dieter Wedel, has made movies and TV shows. The actors are some of the best in Germany, and it shows. It is in fact one of the finest theatrical presentations I have ever seen, combining high tech (e.g. the use of film) with solid theatrical techniques.
But it is the script that is most interesting; this is not a musty old legend with medieval robes and rhyming couplets. The heart of the story remains, but the author has asked what it has to say to us today. Many, though not all, the costumes are modern, and the script makes references to the state of the German nation, both today and in its recent past. This is a play about the German people; Siegfried and Bruennhilde are foreigners who come to Germany to meet their doom. Strangers in a strange land. (I wish I had understood more of the dialogue; I would love to have a copy if they ever publish it.)
Note for future reference: This year the play has been expanded and cut in half. This summer only the first half was performed: this part ends with Siegfried's death. Next summer the second half will be performed: The Fall of the Burgundians. Perhaps I will have to extend my stay here into next August.
A violent, soaking thunderstorm came through about 6:30, while I was having a light dinner. They cancel the show in heavy rain, but I wasn't worried because the weather here can turn on a dime. Sure enough, it is clear by 9:00, and the rain has cooled things off. It is a good thing I brought a sweater.
And one of the sweetest things about this evening: the outdoor equivalent of the lobby/concession area is in a small park between the cathedral and a nearby museum, and it stays open, with food and drinks available, for an hour after the end of the show. There is also live music, but it is suitably mellow and actually quite nice. The place is lit by torches, the leaves on the trees are still glistening with the wetness of the earlier rain, but stars are shining beyond them above the ominous bulk of the cathedral. I sip Rhein wine in the cool of the night, a magical summer night in a land where once were dragons.
SUNDAY --- Only today, after a peaceful night in the hostel --- I had no roommate! --- do I have time to visit the Nibelung Museum. It's a good thing they are open today when the rest of the town, it seems, has shut down. Actually, even yesterday, except for the market plazas and the pedestrian zone near the cathedral, much of the city seemed deserted, in spite of the festival. It's August: vacations?
The emphasis in the museum is on the "Nibelungenlied" itself and its various adaptations over the centuries. References to Wagner, Fritz Lang, and how the Nazis twisted the story to their own ends. Mostly audio-visual presentations. The museum is contained within a section of the old city wall, also a thousand years old, I think, and contains towers that overlook the plaza where Siegfried's (fake) burial mound is.
Then I walk over to the Rhein itself, much wider here than in Mannheim. I don't even take the time to walk all the way across. (The bridge itself, in spite of the old gate at one end, is quite modern. And the gate, in spite of its appearance, turns out to be only about 100 years old.) And up the riverbank from the bridge is the statue of Hagen throwing the Nibelung treasure into the Rhein. (The Hagen of the Nibelungenlied is quite different from the one in Wagner, not so much of a villain, although he is still the killer of Siegfried.) This Hagen gets rid of the treasure voluntarily, to ward off the evil it might cause. But to no avail. Getting rid of the treasure doesn't save him or his brothers.
A final walk past the cathedral, looming darkly on its hill above the city, and on to the Bahnhof and back to Mannheim, where I immediately sit down and finish my paper for class, putting in insights from the play. I turn it in the next day.
JOYS & SORROWS OF THE 3RD WEEK --- 14-18 AUGUST
JOYS --- One big excursion this week was to a park in Kaefertal where there are animals running more or less free. There are fences, but the enclosures are quite large, hundreds of yards across. There were deer, wild pigs, and bison, yes, American bison. Never thought I would have to travel all the way to Germany to see a real live buffalo. But only the pigs were willing to come up close to the fence, hoping for a handout of food from the passersby.
The other was to the palace in Schwetzingen. The palace was moderately impressive, smaller than Charlottenburg, less ornate than Sans Souci. But the big attraction was the gardens, at their height of beauty now in August. (The gardens of Sans Souci were covered with snow when I was there.) But most impressive was not the flora but the ornamentation. The grounds contained no less than three faux-pagan temples (there might have been four), someone's 18th century homeage to classical antiqity. The temples I saw were to Athena, Hermes, and Apollo. The temple to Apollo was the largest, standing atop a fake hill with a fake waterfall (real water, but actually a fountain), and beneath it a network of fake caves built into the hill. One could imagine initiates enduring the Mysteries in the caves during the night before emerging to climb the hill and greet the Sun-God at dawn. Whether or not this was what the 18th-century architect/artist who designed it had in mind, I have no idea.
And there was a pond with ducks and swans and a stream with --- I swear --- catfish in it. Is there such a thing as German catfish? They looked like catfish to me. Too bad they don't eat them here.
SORROWS --- The apartments here are looked after by superintendents called Hausmeister, and the one in my building is available for one entire hour every week. Anything you need, you have to get it during that hour. So I made sure to be home at 7:00 pm this Wednesday so I could get a key to the laundry room. The next day I tried to do laundry.
There are 144 apartments in my building, and in the laundry room there are two washers and two dryers. Both washers were in use when I first went, and were soon finished. But after waiting over an hour for my predecessors to remove their laundry from the respective machines, I unloaded one of them myself and put in mine. So far so good. But it turned out the dryer I used did not work, or I did not know how to work it (there were no written directions, just pictures). Three hours, and the laundry was still cold and wet. The dryer never got hot. So now I have wet laundry hanging up all over the apartment, on the radiator, over the tops of doors, etc. Better to find a public laundromat downtown, where hopefully the facilities will be adequate. But is there such a thing here?
But on the bright side, I finally got my telephone hooked up, and I think I've finally figured out the banking system. No one uses checks here; as I said earlier, they prefer direct withdrawals from your account. One-time payments can be made on-line, which requires not only a PIN number, but a separate code number for each transaction. They send you a list of 100 such numbers, which you must guard with your life. (They send more when you run out.) The Germans love to make things complicated. (Just look at how they write.)
JOYS --- One big excursion this week was to a park in Kaefertal where there are animals running more or less free. There are fences, but the enclosures are quite large, hundreds of yards across. There were deer, wild pigs, and bison, yes, American bison. Never thought I would have to travel all the way to Germany to see a real live buffalo. But only the pigs were willing to come up close to the fence, hoping for a handout of food from the passersby.
The other was to the palace in Schwetzingen. The palace was moderately impressive, smaller than Charlottenburg, less ornate than Sans Souci. But the big attraction was the gardens, at their height of beauty now in August. (The gardens of Sans Souci were covered with snow when I was there.) But most impressive was not the flora but the ornamentation. The grounds contained no less than three faux-pagan temples (there might have been four), someone's 18th century homeage to classical antiqity. The temples I saw were to Athena, Hermes, and Apollo. The temple to Apollo was the largest, standing atop a fake hill with a fake waterfall (real water, but actually a fountain), and beneath it a network of fake caves built into the hill. One could imagine initiates enduring the Mysteries in the caves during the night before emerging to climb the hill and greet the Sun-God at dawn. Whether or not this was what the 18th-century architect/artist who designed it had in mind, I have no idea.
And there was a pond with ducks and swans and a stream with --- I swear --- catfish in it. Is there such a thing as German catfish? They looked like catfish to me. Too bad they don't eat them here.
SORROWS --- The apartments here are looked after by superintendents called Hausmeister, and the one in my building is available for one entire hour every week. Anything you need, you have to get it during that hour. So I made sure to be home at 7:00 pm this Wednesday so I could get a key to the laundry room. The next day I tried to do laundry.
There are 144 apartments in my building, and in the laundry room there are two washers and two dryers. Both washers were in use when I first went, and were soon finished. But after waiting over an hour for my predecessors to remove their laundry from the respective machines, I unloaded one of them myself and put in mine. So far so good. But it turned out the dryer I used did not work, or I did not know how to work it (there were no written directions, just pictures). Three hours, and the laundry was still cold and wet. The dryer never got hot. So now I have wet laundry hanging up all over the apartment, on the radiator, over the tops of doors, etc. Better to find a public laundromat downtown, where hopefully the facilities will be adequate. But is there such a thing here?
But on the bright side, I finally got my telephone hooked up, and I think I've finally figured out the banking system. No one uses checks here; as I said earlier, they prefer direct withdrawals from your account. One-time payments can be made on-line, which requires not only a PIN number, but a separate code number for each transaction. They send you a list of 100 such numbers, which you must guard with your life. (They send more when you run out.) The Germans love to make things complicated. (Just look at how they write.)
Saturday, September 02, 2006
THE 2nd WEEK --- 7 - 12 AUGUST
The theater group that did the play I saw on Friday is called TIG7 --- i.e. Theater in G7, because G7 is where it's located. Professor Tom tells me they are planning a reading of poems by the American poet Charles Bukowski in November, in English. They may need more readers. Am I interested? Of course! My first degree was in theater. I had been hoping to do some performing here. Preferably in German, but I'll take what I can get.
I won't know anything until September.
The VISUM group takes us all on an excursion to the huge IKEA store outside the city so we can buy pots & pans & dishes & such. So now I can cook, or at least fry, or sautee, or make stew. I wonder if I am going to have to buy a microwave, or can this American get by without one?
The Summer Academy also has scheduled a number of larger excursions, and on Tuesday we went to Heidelberg. The old part of the town is your typical old European village, just like in the movies. It has a large castle, part ruins and part renovated, on a hill overlooking the city. The view from atop the castle is magnificent, with the old town at your feet, the Neckar beyond it, and the hills on the other side of the river. And the newer part of the city stretching out to the west. The VISUM group is doing a pub crawl in Heidelberg tonight, but it's a school night, so I bail out early and catch the train on home.
Being a student here has its advantages. For 89€ you get a stamp on your student card that entitles you to cost-free public transportation within the region for a full six months. Sweet.
Another major contribution of the VISUM group, other than the pub crawls, is the Buddy Program. In this program you get matched up with a German student here with whom you can socialize and who can help with getting adjusted, etc. My buddy is a very sweet young lady named Angela (whom I actually met the first day), and on Thursday she takes me around and helps me with some of the hassles I have been having trouble with, like getting internet service where I live (not included in my building, although it is included in most student housing). Very helpful, and I am most grateful.
Later Thursday is an excursion to a small wine-producing town out in the valley for a wine-tasting. We see the vineyards and the huge kegs in the basement, some with elaborate carvings on them. Then we sample seven wines, and nobody spits. It turns into quite a party.
In class we have had the other teacher several days this week. She is teaching us grammer, not that we need it. Fortunately she is much easier to understand than Tom.
There will be a short paper and referat (oral presentation) required for this course. We get to pick our topic. What do you think I choose? Might it have something to do with Wagner? With the Nibelung myth? And the Rhein? Tune in next week to find out.
I am still feeling a little bit under the weather (which has cooled off considerably now), so I take it easy this weekend and get started on the paper.
Word of advice to prospective exchange students: Do not underestimate the stress of the transition. There is much here that is great fun, but the change of scene and lifestyle takes its toll. Party as hard as you like (you will be in good company there), but take care of yourself too.
The theater group that did the play I saw on Friday is called TIG7 --- i.e. Theater in G7, because G7 is where it's located. Professor Tom tells me they are planning a reading of poems by the American poet Charles Bukowski in November, in English. They may need more readers. Am I interested? Of course! My first degree was in theater. I had been hoping to do some performing here. Preferably in German, but I'll take what I can get.
I won't know anything until September.
The VISUM group takes us all on an excursion to the huge IKEA store outside the city so we can buy pots & pans & dishes & such. So now I can cook, or at least fry, or sautee, or make stew. I wonder if I am going to have to buy a microwave, or can this American get by without one?
The Summer Academy also has scheduled a number of larger excursions, and on Tuesday we went to Heidelberg. The old part of the town is your typical old European village, just like in the movies. It has a large castle, part ruins and part renovated, on a hill overlooking the city. The view from atop the castle is magnificent, with the old town at your feet, the Neckar beyond it, and the hills on the other side of the river. And the newer part of the city stretching out to the west. The VISUM group is doing a pub crawl in Heidelberg tonight, but it's a school night, so I bail out early and catch the train on home.
Being a student here has its advantages. For 89€ you get a stamp on your student card that entitles you to cost-free public transportation within the region for a full six months. Sweet.
Another major contribution of the VISUM group, other than the pub crawls, is the Buddy Program. In this program you get matched up with a German student here with whom you can socialize and who can help with getting adjusted, etc. My buddy is a very sweet young lady named Angela (whom I actually met the first day), and on Thursday she takes me around and helps me with some of the hassles I have been having trouble with, like getting internet service where I live (not included in my building, although it is included in most student housing). Very helpful, and I am most grateful.
Later Thursday is an excursion to a small wine-producing town out in the valley for a wine-tasting. We see the vineyards and the huge kegs in the basement, some with elaborate carvings on them. Then we sample seven wines, and nobody spits. It turns into quite a party.
In class we have had the other teacher several days this week. She is teaching us grammer, not that we need it. Fortunately she is much easier to understand than Tom.
There will be a short paper and referat (oral presentation) required for this course. We get to pick our topic. What do you think I choose? Might it have something to do with Wagner? With the Nibelung myth? And the Rhein? Tune in next week to find out.
I am still feeling a little bit under the weather (which has cooled off considerably now), so I take it easy this weekend and get started on the paper.
Word of advice to prospective exchange students: Do not underestimate the stress of the transition. There is much here that is great fun, but the change of scene and lifestyle takes its toll. Party as hard as you like (you will be in good company there), but take care of yourself too.
Friday, September 01, 2006
SUNDAY, 6 AUGUST 2006
Sunday --- nothing open --- nothing to do. A welcome day of rest after a hectic week.
I finally have a chance to explore my own neighborhood. I was very excited when I looked on the map and saw that all the streets in my area, at least to the west of the main street I live on, are named after characters from Wagner operas. Senta, Tannhäuser, Elisabeth, Lohengrin, Elsa, Tristan, Isolde, Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Hans Sachs, all are represented. I could only imagine what kind of businesses and pubs and restaurants might be in this area.
Alas, there are none of those things. The entire area is the European equivalent of an American suburban cookie-cutter subdivision. It is nothing but apartment buildings, and they all look alike, all surrounded by pavement. Until you round one corner and there is a charming little stone cottage with a garden of flowers and vegetables, bright and full, like out of a fairy tale, right in the middle of the development. It must have been there before everything else was built. For how long? Centuries? And the TV satellite dish on the roof?
Then you turn into the ominously-named Alberichstrasse, which goes past the development and into what seems to be virgin forest, and at the end of it a restaurant, almost hidden amid the trees. I will eat there tonight.
But now I go on into an area of small cottages, modern ones, all with well-tended gardens in full bloom. People that live in the city must come here just to garden; these houses are too small to live in. The little yards are laid out in a neat grid, with straight alleys between them, row after row, stretching on for... half a mile? A mile? Many of the gardens have privacy fences: wouldn't want to create a beautiful garden and then let people see it, would we?
Beyond the gardening area is the Waldpark, a natural area that goes on to the banks of the Rhein. Here I lose myself in the deep green of the forest along the narrow trails. They are much like the nature trails in Reedy Creek Park in Charlotte, only I think this is bigger. How old is this forest? It can't be old growth, not this close to the city. Is there any old-growth forest left in Europe? But the trees seem healthy. I wonder how many of these species are not found in America?
I end up at a sandy area on the riverbank. There is supposed to be a swimming beach around here, but I'm not sure this is it. But there is sand going right down to the water, and low trees all around. Children are playing in the water, but no one is actually swimming. In America there would be an old tire suspended from a tree branch so you could swing out and drop in the water. But none of these trees is tall enough.
I will have to come back with my bathing suit before the weather changes. And this forest will be where I come to relax and commune with nature. I will have to learn about the trees.
Twilight --- I am sitting on the terrace behind the restaurant. There is a small lake here and a great willow tree on its shore, towering against the sunset. This place could be miles away from any town. And with still abnormally warm temperatures, it could be the tropics. Of course it's actually a 15-minute walk from a busy street, but it's nice to forget for a while.
FACTOID --- With low mountains to the west, as well as to the east, the Rhein River valley around Mannheim (aka the Pfalz) is the warmest region in Germany. The western mountains shelter it from the Atlantic winds that sweep across France. That is why the wines produced here are so good. They say it doesn't even snow much here. I hope I get to see some anyway.
Sunday --- nothing open --- nothing to do. A welcome day of rest after a hectic week.
I finally have a chance to explore my own neighborhood. I was very excited when I looked on the map and saw that all the streets in my area, at least to the west of the main street I live on, are named after characters from Wagner operas. Senta, Tannhäuser, Elisabeth, Lohengrin, Elsa, Tristan, Isolde, Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Hans Sachs, all are represented. I could only imagine what kind of businesses and pubs and restaurants might be in this area.
Alas, there are none of those things. The entire area is the European equivalent of an American suburban cookie-cutter subdivision. It is nothing but apartment buildings, and they all look alike, all surrounded by pavement. Until you round one corner and there is a charming little stone cottage with a garden of flowers and vegetables, bright and full, like out of a fairy tale, right in the middle of the development. It must have been there before everything else was built. For how long? Centuries? And the TV satellite dish on the roof?
Then you turn into the ominously-named Alberichstrasse, which goes past the development and into what seems to be virgin forest, and at the end of it a restaurant, almost hidden amid the trees. I will eat there tonight.
But now I go on into an area of small cottages, modern ones, all with well-tended gardens in full bloom. People that live in the city must come here just to garden; these houses are too small to live in. The little yards are laid out in a neat grid, with straight alleys between them, row after row, stretching on for... half a mile? A mile? Many of the gardens have privacy fences: wouldn't want to create a beautiful garden and then let people see it, would we?
Beyond the gardening area is the Waldpark, a natural area that goes on to the banks of the Rhein. Here I lose myself in the deep green of the forest along the narrow trails. They are much like the nature trails in Reedy Creek Park in Charlotte, only I think this is bigger. How old is this forest? It can't be old growth, not this close to the city. Is there any old-growth forest left in Europe? But the trees seem healthy. I wonder how many of these species are not found in America?
I end up at a sandy area on the riverbank. There is supposed to be a swimming beach around here, but I'm not sure this is it. But there is sand going right down to the water, and low trees all around. Children are playing in the water, but no one is actually swimming. In America there would be an old tire suspended from a tree branch so you could swing out and drop in the water. But none of these trees is tall enough.
I will have to come back with my bathing suit before the weather changes. And this forest will be where I come to relax and commune with nature. I will have to learn about the trees.
Twilight --- I am sitting on the terrace behind the restaurant. There is a small lake here and a great willow tree on its shore, towering against the sunset. This place could be miles away from any town. And with still abnormally warm temperatures, it could be the tropics. Of course it's actually a 15-minute walk from a busy street, but it's nice to forget for a while.
FACTOID --- With low mountains to the west, as well as to the east, the Rhein River valley around Mannheim (aka the Pfalz) is the warmest region in Germany. The western mountains shelter it from the Atlantic winds that sweep across France. That is why the wines produced here are so good. They say it doesn't even snow much here. I hope I get to see some anyway.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
THE FIRST WEEK --- 1-5 August
Well, dear readers, as you can see, I'm a little behind here, so I will try to catch up over the next week or so with just some highlights.
Tuesday August 1st --- "Arrival Day" at the University. It was then that I was plunged into the world of German red tape. I don't suppose it was any worse than what a foreign student coming to America would encounter, but there was a lot of running back and forth between different locations. If they had had everything in one place everything would have gone much more smoothly. For instance, if they had set up everything, including computer hook-ups, in a basketball arena or some place like that. But there may not be a location large enough around here.
One necessity of the first day was opening a bank account, because the university would not accept cash (for the housing rent), and apparently no one in Germany still uses checks. The people you have to pay (rent, telephone, internet, etc.) expect to take their money directly from your bank account, so you have to have one, and then give everyone your account number. A little scary, from an American point of view, but everyone here is trustworthy and mindful of security, if not privacy. Word of advice: don't try to have money sent over to your German bank account immediately. It can take several days to a week before the account is officially opened.
But I finally got the keys to my apartment and at the end of a long day found myself at what will be home for the next year. I was lucky enough to get what is called a private "apartment" (which is at the high end of the rent scale for student housing), and private it is, with my own bathroom and "kitchen". But it is hardly what we Americans would think of as an apartment. The kitchen consits of a sink, two burners --- no oven, and certainly no microwave --- a small refrigerator, and a small cabinet. This is contained within a closet-sized room, beyond which is the main room, which is about the size of a typical American dormitory room. The operative word in all this is "small". Everything here seems to be on a smaller scale, and more compact, than in America. Quite an adjustment for those of us accustomed to wide open spaces.
But I am on the fourth floor, and the view out the window --- once I figured out thow to open it all the way --- is expansive and quite nice. If I stick my head out I can see two factories with smokestacks belching smoke to the right, and to the left the main street back into downtown Mannheim. But straight ahead (which by the way is due east) there are the rooftops of the Mannheim suburbs (Neckarau in this case) and in the distance a range of small mountains rolling gently and blue against the far horizon. Off to the right I think I can see the cleft where the Neckar comes out of the mountains, where Heidelberg lies.
And directly across the street is a brightly lit Esso gas station, complete with convenience store. I lose track of time while settling in, and before I know it is nearly 9:00, and all the grocery stores are closed. But the gas station convenience store across the street seems to be open all night. I make my dinner with beer and a sandwich of convenience store cold-cuts.
Wednesday & Thursday --- I have come to Mannheim at the beginning of August to attend something called the International Summer Academy, a one-month language training program for foreign students. The actual Fall Semester does not start until September. But I seem to need all the language training I can get. The Summer Academy is self-contained; it has nothing to do with the actual studies here at the University. Some students come just for this month and then go home. I of course am here for a year, but I'm really glad I came early to do this. It has given me chance to get settled in --- which is taking longer than I thought it would --- before the real classes start in September.
There was a placement test to determine what level of classes each student should be assigned to. It was a written test, and I took the hard version (there is an easier option), and hard it was, but I must have done well, because I placed into the highest level. I must have barely made the cut, because everyone in the class speaks better German than I do. Only one of them is another American. The others are from Canada, Scotland, Norway, France, Spain, Slovenia, Tunisia, China, Taiwan, and Korea. They all speak pretty good English, too.
Of course, we speak nothing but German in class, and the first of the two teachers talks really fast. He is really hard to understand. But he is lively and fun. He is an amateur actor, like me --- more of that later.
Speaking of fun, there is a student organization here called VISUM which exists for the sake of promoting relations with the international students here. Their main function seems to be scheduling interesting cultural activities, such as pub crawls. The first pub crawl was Thursday night, and after the first day of class, I needed it. This was my first chance to really get to know some of the other students in the summer program, including several Americans, two from North Carolina. None of us have started speaking German yet.
Friday --- Culture Shock Sets In. Another day of class and not understanding a lot. I talk to the teacher, Tom, about the possibility of dropping back a level. He talks me out of it. Still, there is the feeling of being in over my head... I am a stranger in a strange land ... what have I done? What am I doing here? This is the most extreme, most challenging, thing I have ever done in my life --- and for me that's a long time --- but, I remind myself, also the bravest. It is a huge accomplishment just being here, having made the changes in my life I've made over the past year.
(It occurs to me I have not explained about my age. I am a "non-traditional" student --- i.e., having earned a degree in theater many years ago, I have returned to school to seek another degree in German. With the intention of becoming a translator. I made this decision after many years of frustration in a profession in which I did not belong --- not theater; that didn't work out. I am actually starting my life all over again. So I'm twice the age of the typical college student, but all this change has given me renewed energy, a renewal of mind and heart. I just hope the body can keep up.)
Speaking of theater, Tom tells me about a local amateur (I think) theater group that's doing a show. Not having anything better to do on Friday night (VISUM is going clubbing, but that's not my scene), I go.
It was called "The Baroness and the Pig". It's about a wealthy matron who's had so much trouble finding good help that she takes a young girl from a farm in the country --- who has apparently been raised by pigs --- to raise her and train her herself to be just the way she wants her to be. Things do not go as planned, however. Though the play was in German, much of the action was highly physical (especially on the part of the pig-girl, who barely said anything), so it was not hard at all to understand what was going on. And the acting was absolutely first-rate. Better than Theatre Charlotte, on average, from what I've seen. Of course , it was only two people.
I am feeling a bit under the weather today, for some reason (the pub crawl, maybe, or maybe there's something in the air...) (more likely the stress of the adjustment), so I have a bite to eat at a bistro near the theater, then go straight home to bed.
ABOUT MANNHEIM
Mannheim, I believe, is somewhat smaller than Charlotte in terms of population, and much smaller in area. As I said, things are more compact here. The layout is unusual. The main part of the city, the downtown area, is enclosed within a circle, a more or less continuous street in a ring around the city. (The encircling ring has different names at different points; as in Charlotte, the Mannheimers like to give the same street different names along its path.)
The city circle is bisected on a roughly north-south axis by a wide street called "Breitestrasse" (literally, "Wide Street"), and is bisected again by another wide street, called "Planken", perpendicular to the Breitestrasse, so that the main part of the city has the form of a quartered circle. The area inside the circle, however, is divided into grids, with all the streets at right-angles. The really odd thing is that none of the streets, except the two streets forming the central cross, have names. Addresses are designated with letters and numbers. At first I thought it was the streets that had letters, but it isn't: the streets have no designation at all. It is the blocks that are designated with letters and numbers. The blocks in the more-or-less western half of the circle are designated A through K, running south to north, the blocks in the eastern half are L on, again from south to north. On each block, from west to east, there are numbers. So that you cannot tell from the address what street a place is on: all you know is the block, and the place could face any of the streets that border that block. But once you understand the system, you always know where the blocks are. For instance, N7 is in the eastern half, 3 blocks up from the southern boundary (which block row L) and 7 blocks out from the central axis. Simple.
The area of the city outside the central ring has a more conventional layout, with names on the streets.
Well, dear readers, as you can see, I'm a little behind here, so I will try to catch up over the next week or so with just some highlights.
Tuesday August 1st --- "Arrival Day" at the University. It was then that I was plunged into the world of German red tape. I don't suppose it was any worse than what a foreign student coming to America would encounter, but there was a lot of running back and forth between different locations. If they had had everything in one place everything would have gone much more smoothly. For instance, if they had set up everything, including computer hook-ups, in a basketball arena or some place like that. But there may not be a location large enough around here.
One necessity of the first day was opening a bank account, because the university would not accept cash (for the housing rent), and apparently no one in Germany still uses checks. The people you have to pay (rent, telephone, internet, etc.) expect to take their money directly from your bank account, so you have to have one, and then give everyone your account number. A little scary, from an American point of view, but everyone here is trustworthy and mindful of security, if not privacy. Word of advice: don't try to have money sent over to your German bank account immediately. It can take several days to a week before the account is officially opened.
But I finally got the keys to my apartment and at the end of a long day found myself at what will be home for the next year. I was lucky enough to get what is called a private "apartment" (which is at the high end of the rent scale for student housing), and private it is, with my own bathroom and "kitchen". But it is hardly what we Americans would think of as an apartment. The kitchen consits of a sink, two burners --- no oven, and certainly no microwave --- a small refrigerator, and a small cabinet. This is contained within a closet-sized room, beyond which is the main room, which is about the size of a typical American dormitory room. The operative word in all this is "small". Everything here seems to be on a smaller scale, and more compact, than in America. Quite an adjustment for those of us accustomed to wide open spaces.
But I am on the fourth floor, and the view out the window --- once I figured out thow to open it all the way --- is expansive and quite nice. If I stick my head out I can see two factories with smokestacks belching smoke to the right, and to the left the main street back into downtown Mannheim. But straight ahead (which by the way is due east) there are the rooftops of the Mannheim suburbs (Neckarau in this case) and in the distance a range of small mountains rolling gently and blue against the far horizon. Off to the right I think I can see the cleft where the Neckar comes out of the mountains, where Heidelberg lies.
And directly across the street is a brightly lit Esso gas station, complete with convenience store. I lose track of time while settling in, and before I know it is nearly 9:00, and all the grocery stores are closed. But the gas station convenience store across the street seems to be open all night. I make my dinner with beer and a sandwich of convenience store cold-cuts.
Wednesday & Thursday --- I have come to Mannheim at the beginning of August to attend something called the International Summer Academy, a one-month language training program for foreign students. The actual Fall Semester does not start until September. But I seem to need all the language training I can get. The Summer Academy is self-contained; it has nothing to do with the actual studies here at the University. Some students come just for this month and then go home. I of course am here for a year, but I'm really glad I came early to do this. It has given me chance to get settled in --- which is taking longer than I thought it would --- before the real classes start in September.
There was a placement test to determine what level of classes each student should be assigned to. It was a written test, and I took the hard version (there is an easier option), and hard it was, but I must have done well, because I placed into the highest level. I must have barely made the cut, because everyone in the class speaks better German than I do. Only one of them is another American. The others are from Canada, Scotland, Norway, France, Spain, Slovenia, Tunisia, China, Taiwan, and Korea. They all speak pretty good English, too.
Of course, we speak nothing but German in class, and the first of the two teachers talks really fast. He is really hard to understand. But he is lively and fun. He is an amateur actor, like me --- more of that later.
Speaking of fun, there is a student organization here called VISUM which exists for the sake of promoting relations with the international students here. Their main function seems to be scheduling interesting cultural activities, such as pub crawls. The first pub crawl was Thursday night, and after the first day of class, I needed it. This was my first chance to really get to know some of the other students in the summer program, including several Americans, two from North Carolina. None of us have started speaking German yet.
Friday --- Culture Shock Sets In. Another day of class and not understanding a lot. I talk to the teacher, Tom, about the possibility of dropping back a level. He talks me out of it. Still, there is the feeling of being in over my head... I am a stranger in a strange land ... what have I done? What am I doing here? This is the most extreme, most challenging, thing I have ever done in my life --- and for me that's a long time --- but, I remind myself, also the bravest. It is a huge accomplishment just being here, having made the changes in my life I've made over the past year.
(It occurs to me I have not explained about my age. I am a "non-traditional" student --- i.e., having earned a degree in theater many years ago, I have returned to school to seek another degree in German. With the intention of becoming a translator. I made this decision after many years of frustration in a profession in which I did not belong --- not theater; that didn't work out. I am actually starting my life all over again. So I'm twice the age of the typical college student, but all this change has given me renewed energy, a renewal of mind and heart. I just hope the body can keep up.)
Speaking of theater, Tom tells me about a local amateur (I think) theater group that's doing a show. Not having anything better to do on Friday night (VISUM is going clubbing, but that's not my scene), I go.
It was called "The Baroness and the Pig". It's about a wealthy matron who's had so much trouble finding good help that she takes a young girl from a farm in the country --- who has apparently been raised by pigs --- to raise her and train her herself to be just the way she wants her to be. Things do not go as planned, however. Though the play was in German, much of the action was highly physical (especially on the part of the pig-girl, who barely said anything), so it was not hard at all to understand what was going on. And the acting was absolutely first-rate. Better than Theatre Charlotte, on average, from what I've seen. Of course , it was only two people.
I am feeling a bit under the weather today, for some reason (the pub crawl, maybe, or maybe there's something in the air...) (more likely the stress of the adjustment), so I have a bite to eat at a bistro near the theater, then go straight home to bed.
ABOUT MANNHEIM
Mannheim, I believe, is somewhat smaller than Charlotte in terms of population, and much smaller in area. As I said, things are more compact here. The layout is unusual. The main part of the city, the downtown area, is enclosed within a circle, a more or less continuous street in a ring around the city. (The encircling ring has different names at different points; as in Charlotte, the Mannheimers like to give the same street different names along its path.)
The city circle is bisected on a roughly north-south axis by a wide street called "Breitestrasse" (literally, "Wide Street"), and is bisected again by another wide street, called "Planken", perpendicular to the Breitestrasse, so that the main part of the city has the form of a quartered circle. The area inside the circle, however, is divided into grids, with all the streets at right-angles. The really odd thing is that none of the streets, except the two streets forming the central cross, have names. Addresses are designated with letters and numbers. At first I thought it was the streets that had letters, but it isn't: the streets have no designation at all. It is the blocks that are designated with letters and numbers. The blocks in the more-or-less western half of the circle are designated A through K, running south to north, the blocks in the eastern half are L on, again from south to north. On each block, from west to east, there are numbers. So that you cannot tell from the address what street a place is on: all you know is the block, and the place could face any of the streets that border that block. But once you understand the system, you always know where the blocks are. For instance, N7 is in the eastern half, 3 blocks up from the southern boundary (which block row L) and 7 blocks out from the central axis. Simple.
The area of the city outside the central ring has a more conventional layout, with names on the streets.
Monday, August 28, 2006
31 JULY, 2006 --- CITY ON THE RHEIN
Who would have thought the temperature in Mannheim in July would be the same as that in Berlin in March? That is, if you use the Fahrenheit scale for Berlin and Celsius for Mannheim. Daytime highs in Berlin were about 32° F, here it's about 32° C. That's close to 100 ° F. With high humidity, it's a lot like home, back in North Carolina. Only here there is no air-conditioning.
This was an easy day, because I got here a day early. Nothing to do until tomorrow, when I check in at the university. I can't even get into my housing yet, so I'm staying at a Youth Hostel for the first time in my life. A youth hostel at my age. Good thing this isn't Bavaria.
The hostel is right on the banks of the fabled River Rhein. In an indirect way, this river is why I'm here. Years ago, when I was young, two things happened at about the same time: I got seriously interested in mythology, and I discovered the music of Richard Wagner. The magical combination of myth and music in his operas was unlike anything I had ever experienced. This is what got me interested in German culture and language, an interest that after many twists and turns led to my decision to become a translator of German, and that is why I have come to Mannheim to study at the university (made possible by the gracious generosity of the Honoraray Consul of Germany in North Carolina).
But about the river --- this mythical river was the home of the Rheingold, source of the magic Ring of Power and its deadly curse, a curse that could only be lifted by returning the ring to the waters of the Rhein. And according to the medieval German version of the saga, the "Nibelungenlied", the hero Siegfried met his doom (in the person of a beautiful woman) in the city of Worms, which still exists a few miles down the river from here. (More of that later.)
So naturally the first thing I did when I got here was walk down to the Rhein. It is not as wide as I imagined and flows easily between well-manicured banks, having been deepened and straightened for the sake of navigation and to prevent flooding. The water is cold and green. If there are any water-nymphs, they swim deep beneath the surface now.
After some exploration of the city, I have a dinner of pizza at a French restaurant --- but the beer is German --- and return to the hostel at about 9:30. It is not yet dark. Although I have been without sleep for three days, it is still too early --- and too hot --- to go to bed. I walk into the narrow park that lies between the hostel and the river, and as the sun sets across the river and twilight begins to gather, I see there people in small, and not so small, groups talking and laughing and playing music. One group has a fire going. I walk toward the largest and noisiest group, where people have guitars and are singing. The song: John Denver's "Country Roads".
I walk up the bank of the river as the little parties continue well past dark. In an American city of this size it would be considered dangerous, and probably illegal, to be in a city park after dark. Not here. Mannheim is a bustling modern city, but still peaceful enough for people to go out and enjoy themselves outdoors on a hot summer evening.
What adventures await in this city on the Rhein, only time will tell.
Who would have thought the temperature in Mannheim in July would be the same as that in Berlin in March? That is, if you use the Fahrenheit scale for Berlin and Celsius for Mannheim. Daytime highs in Berlin were about 32° F, here it's about 32° C. That's close to 100 ° F. With high humidity, it's a lot like home, back in North Carolina. Only here there is no air-conditioning.
This was an easy day, because I got here a day early. Nothing to do until tomorrow, when I check in at the university. I can't even get into my housing yet, so I'm staying at a Youth Hostel for the first time in my life. A youth hostel at my age. Good thing this isn't Bavaria.
The hostel is right on the banks of the fabled River Rhein. In an indirect way, this river is why I'm here. Years ago, when I was young, two things happened at about the same time: I got seriously interested in mythology, and I discovered the music of Richard Wagner. The magical combination of myth and music in his operas was unlike anything I had ever experienced. This is what got me interested in German culture and language, an interest that after many twists and turns led to my decision to become a translator of German, and that is why I have come to Mannheim to study at the university (made possible by the gracious generosity of the Honoraray Consul of Germany in North Carolina).
But about the river --- this mythical river was the home of the Rheingold, source of the magic Ring of Power and its deadly curse, a curse that could only be lifted by returning the ring to the waters of the Rhein. And according to the medieval German version of the saga, the "Nibelungenlied", the hero Siegfried met his doom (in the person of a beautiful woman) in the city of Worms, which still exists a few miles down the river from here. (More of that later.)
So naturally the first thing I did when I got here was walk down to the Rhein. It is not as wide as I imagined and flows easily between well-manicured banks, having been deepened and straightened for the sake of navigation and to prevent flooding. The water is cold and green. If there are any water-nymphs, they swim deep beneath the surface now.
After some exploration of the city, I have a dinner of pizza at a French restaurant --- but the beer is German --- and return to the hostel at about 9:30. It is not yet dark. Although I have been without sleep for three days, it is still too early --- and too hot --- to go to bed. I walk into the narrow park that lies between the hostel and the river, and as the sun sets across the river and twilight begins to gather, I see there people in small, and not so small, groups talking and laughing and playing music. One group has a fire going. I walk toward the largest and noisiest group, where people have guitars and are singing. The song: John Denver's "Country Roads".
I walk up the bank of the river as the little parties continue well past dark. In an American city of this size it would be considered dangerous, and probably illegal, to be in a city park after dark. Not here. Mannheim is a bustling modern city, but still peaceful enough for people to go out and enjoy themselves outdoors on a hot summer evening.
What adventures await in this city on the Rhein, only time will tell.
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